Novistadors
by Javilin Yamato
Summary: Deep beneath the town of Florina City lies an underground research lab called "The Hive" dedicated to genetic research on insects. When a expirmental chemical agent leaks into the ventilation system all hell breaks loose.
1. Prolouge

Prolouge

Exposure

Deep below the surface in an underground lab a man is sitting at his desk examining a reddish-blue liquid inside a sealed glass testing tube. he looks at it curiously throught his sleek, black rimmed glasses. he has a sinister look on his face as he got up off his chair and walked over to the counter across his desk.

"Now, for the final test" he whispered as he raised his arm and smashed the test tube against the corner of the counter, spilling the liquid over the it. small amounts dripped off the side of the counter as he left the room. vapours began to rise from the liquid up to the ceiling where it was sucked into the ventilation shaft. moments later an alarm activated and a voice began to speak over an intercom.

"Exposure to unknown chemical vapors detected WARNING....Activating quarantine lockdown, repeat, initiating full quarantine lockdown...."

suddenly an explosion rocked the lab, causing power failures in some areas. the intercom activated again.

"Security breach in specimen chambers, repeat, security breach in specimen chambers...."


	2. Into The Fire

Chapter 1:

Into The Fire.

**Three hours later...**

The whirring of an elevator can be heard as it descended to the bottom of a dark shaft. as it came to a stop at the bottom of the shaft the door quickly opened to reveal a man carrying an RCP120 battle rifle and a holstered Desert Eagle. he was clad in a black shirt covered in a body vest and pants with numerous pockets on them. his belt had many cases attached to it including a sheathed combat knife. he walked cautiously as he scanned the horizontal shaft, his rifle pointing wherever his mahogany eyes where. his brown hair shining in what little light there was in the shaft. he noticed a small tram ahead of him on a track that lead deeper into the tunnel. when he deemed the area safe he bent down on one knee and flipped a switch on a black box attached to his vest while he touched his left ear with his finger.

"HQ, Lloyd Irving reporting. I've reached the destination point" He said as his glanced to his left for a second.

"Roger that, I'll rebrief you on your current objectives."a voice answered, " But first, I must remind you the current status of this mission." the voice paused for a moment "You are to refrain from using your weapons unless you have no choice and we will not refer to you by your real name, instead we will give you a codename..."

"Okay..."

"for this mission your codename will be Black Raven"

"Right...," Lloyd grinned "Black Raven suits me"

"Anyways, on to the briefing," the voice continued. "As of this moment it is unclear the current situation in The Hive as we have yet to receive a reply from them. but what we do know is that the whole lab is in quarantine lock down making it impossible to gain entry without the override code. We are working on obtaining the code so for now make your way to the entrance into The Hive where I will update you on the current situation."

"By the way, exactly who am I talking to?" Lloyd asked.

"Call me White Tiger" The man replied

"Roger that, Raven out." he said as he switched the codec to standby.

He stood up and once more surveyed his surroundings before he approached the tram. as he walked up to the door it opened and he got inside the tram's control room. His eyes wandered along the control deck until he found the lever he was looking for, he then pulled the lever and with a jerk the tram began down the railway into the darkness, it became apparent the tram,s front lights weren't functioning so Lloyd turned the flashlight attached to his rifle on as the darkness surrounded him.

_"Is it supposed to be this dark down here?"He thought to himself as he used the flashlight to see ahead of the tram._

Moments later the tram came to a halt. Lloyd mentally prepared himself with gun ready as the door opened. he quietly stepped out of the tram and the first thing he noticed was a lit screen diagonally right from him. he aimed the light to discover it was an access panel, which told him he had reached the entrance. he moved the light a little more to the right to see a portion of the large steel doors that separated him from the known and uncertainty. Now that he had confirmed his position he got down on one knee and flipped his codec on.

" White Tiger, I have made it to the entrance..."

"Good job Raven, and just in time I might add..." he replied, "We have the code...its 'Neogenesis' "

"Neogenesis? you mean as in instant regeneration of lost organs and tissue?"

"Thats correct, why they chose that we don't know, but thats the code..."

"Roger that, Raven out" Lloyd said as he stood up and walked over to the panel, the screen read:

SECURITY BREACH LEVEL 5: UNKNOWN CHEMICAL VAPOURS PRESENT IN ATMOSPHERE....

SECURITY BREACH IN SPECIMEN CHAMBERS.....

LAB STATUS: QUARENTINE LOCKDOWN LEVEL A.....HIGH SECURITY OVERRIDE CODE REQUIRED TO CONTINUE.....PLEASE INPUT PASSWORD.

"Unknown chemical vapors present in atmosphere? Security breach in specimen chambers?" None of it made sense to Lloyd. but he had no time to ponder its meaning, so he typed in 'NEOGENESIS' and hit enter. the console beeped as the message on the screen changed.

CORRECT PASSWORD INPUT....RELEASING LOCKS.

Lloyd then walked up to the door and it slowly began to open. it was pitch black behind the door as well except for the beam of light from the flashlight. Lloyd listened closely to his surroundings as he stepped inside. he sweeped the beam of light around in front of him and caught a quick glance of something, he took a better look at it to realize it was a corpse.

_A human corpse. heavily mutilated and completely drenched in blood._

"what in gods name...." he muttered as he got closer to examine it. The blood was fresh, meaning that whoever it was, was alive until recently. and by the looks of it was partially eaten "What happened here?"

Lloyd turned his codec on and spoke "White tiger, I've discovered a corpse, its human..." he said as he continued to look at the bloody mess.

"This is unfortunate news" he replied, "Lloyd, keep you eyes peeled. I don't like the looks of this"

"Roger that," Lloyd then turned it off.

Lloyd returned to examining the body, unaware there where seven glowing orbs bunched together above his head. Lloyd's senses alerted him. He swung around,The light pointing to the ceiling where the orbs where.

_There was nothing there._

His senses told him something was there, but there was nothing. slowly he came unwound and scanned the room with the flashlight and saw light peeking through a door. he approached the door, light pouring into the darkness as it opened to reveal a hallway that led deeper into the lab...


	3. Crew Quarters

Chapter 2:

Crew Quarters

He silently walked down the hallway towards the door. as it slid open it revealed the next room to him. it appeared to be the crew quarters.

there were doors on each side of him, each of them with name plates on them:

Dr. Zelos Wilder

Sheena Fujibayashi

Daniel Matsutani

Ian Cambridge

Sarah Watson

The names when on and on....

each door he checked was unlocked. he opened them and briefly checked them. he was now facing the next door in line, the plate read 'Colette Brunel' he turned the knob.

It was locked_._

This registered as odd in Lloyd's head. every door was unlocked except this one. Lloyd stepped back and with one well placed kick the door flew open. he glanced into the room as he stepped in when his gun was struck out of his hand and fell to the floor, he grabbed his attacker by the arm and threw them against the wall to his left, pulling out his handgun and aiming it at his quarry.

He loosened his grip on the trigger. his gun still aimed at the girl that huddled against the wall in absolute fear. A girl with golden hair that fell to her shoulders, deep sapphire eyes and light pink lips wearing a lab coat, she had a small frame and had a dirt smudge on her face. he lowered his gun and reached out to her, receiving a yelp from her by doing so.

"stay away!" she pleaded franticly slapping his hand away.

he grabbed her by her arm as she struggled to break free. "Calm down."

she continued to struggle but he kept an iron grip on her arm. "I was sent to rescue any survivors"

She stopped "what?"

"i,m here to rescue you" he slowly released her. she still kept her distance as he put his handgun back in its holster.

"Why should i trust you?"

"You don't have to" He said, picking his rifle up off the floor. "but I'm pretty sure you would rather trust me than end up like the corpse I just found..."

"Just who are you anyways?" she asked.

"Raven, yours?"

She hesitated as she sat on the nearby bed "Colette"

"Where are the others?"

Her gaze turned to the floor, a hint of sadness on her face "They're all dead..."

"What happened?"

Before she could answer they where alerted by a loud noise.

"They found us!" she rocketed off the bed. "Close that door!"

He did'nt question her as he shut the door and put his body weight against it to keep it shut. "What found us?"

She didn't reply.

"Answer me!" he demanded.

She spoke only one word. "Novistadors"

"Nova what?!"

"Shh!" she shushed him, speaking in a whisper. "They'll hear you!"

They both listened as the sound 'Tip....Tap....Tip' was heard down the hallway followed by grunting. Lloyd guessed it was alone, on patrol for something. His grip tightened on the rifle as the sounds came closer, then they heard a door creak open....

It was in the room next to them. it was some kind of large winged insectoid, four legged creature. it shuffled papers on a desk around with its antennae. It stood in a crouched position on its muscular back legs, its thinner front legs serving as arms. its arm brushed against an empty glass, knocking the glass over as it shattered across the floor, it paid little attention to this as it continued.

"What is it doing?" Lloyd whispered to Colette who was beside him.

"It's searching," She said with panic in her voice as she spoke softly. "It knows where here...."

Lloyd fixed his eyes to looking through the cheaply decorated door window that had a blur effect to it, keeping close watch. Once again they heard tapping in the corridor, Lloyd watched as a figure passed by the window. Moments later he heard the electronic door slide open at the end of the hallway, then close shut.

"Is it gone?" he wondered, easing his hold on the rifle.

"I think so...." Colette still whispered.

Just then his codec began beeping.

"Whats that?"

"Its my connection to the outside world" Lloyd said as he answered the codec. "Raven here, what is it White Tiger?"

_"White Tiger?" Colette thought to herself. "Are they using code names?"_

"We hadn't heard from you since you entered The Hive, I was getting worried...."

"I was a little tied up...nothing serious" Lloyd replied.

Colette listened carefully so she could hear their conversation, many questions of her own coming to mind.

"I found what may be the only known survivor," Lloyd said as he glanced at her for a quick moment "And it seems that we're being hunted by someone or something..."

"Understood, be careful...we need you alive and on duty Raven," he said gruffly "Continue your search with extreme caution, you've been given clearance to use your weapons to protect what survivors you find...we have you on GPS and will be watching you closely"

"Understood, Raven out" Lloyd then turned to Colette. "Follow me closely and don,t stray from me..."

She nodded as he slowly entered the hallway, quietly following him from behind.

He looked down both ends of the corridor. Just then the electronic door leading to the hive entrance suddenly opened. he swung around, but there was nothing on the other side.

"What the heck?!" Lloyd said as he aimed the gun down the hall just as the door closed. Colette looked curiously as well.

Out of nowhere Lloyd was suddenly blown back halfway down the hall and landed with a thud on the concrete floor.

"Raven!" Colette shuddered as she heard a screech. she swung her head around to see it appear out of thin air.

It stood there returning her glance with six piercing orbs, hissing profoundly at her as its four pedipalps moved quickly around its mouth. It flexed its deadly claws teasingly as it raised its arm to deliver the mortal blow.

"You're forgetting someone!" The creature looked just as Lloyd's right leg connected with its face. knocking it back a fair distance from them.

"Colette!" Lloyd said as he landed next to her. "Stay back!" He raised his gun to the recuperating creature.

It snapped its teeth at him as it began to approach him, switching its pose from right to left as it approached. Lloyd waited for the right moment and showered it with bullets. each round hitting its target. the creature leaped at him and connected with his chest, grabbing a hold of him with a superhuman grip. The way it had a hold on him left his arms effectively useless. he could only watch as it began cocking its head back and forth.

_It was about to regurgitate something._

Lloyd struggled and managed to free an arm, with it he aimed the rifle against its chest.

"Eat this!" he pulled the trigger, sending numerous bullets into its gut. it loosened its grip on him and he used this to his advantage. he used all of his might to knock it off him as a spurt of liquid from its mouth splashed onto his vest. it got back up off the ground and charged towards him only to meet a rain of rounds from his rifle, with a final hiss it collapsed to the ground, orange ooze poured out of its wounds.

_It was then he realized there was smoke pluming off his vest._

He quickly began to unbuckle his vest as the acid was quickly eating it away. He got it off and tossed it onto the floor as he watched the front portion of the vest burned away along with the codec attached to it. he checked his rifle and the rest of his body seeing if there was anymore of it on him.

"You okay Raven?"she said as she stepped into the corridor. He was catching his breath.

"What kind of god forsaken experiments where you doing down here!?!?" He said as he looked at the creature that layed limp on the floor. "What the hell is that!?" he pointed at it.

"It's a genetically augmented insect."she said, startled at the roughness of his voice.

"Last time I checked insects didn't spit acid," He scoffed, "and they weren't the size of a teenager..."

she looked away from him, not daring to look at him."what do you expect me to say?" she said softly.

He grabbed her by the arm and spun her to face him. her gaze met his piercing brown orbs. "I want to know what the hell is going on down here and what the hell these nova-whatever-the-hell-you-call-them came to being!?"

she was terrified by the look he was giving her, but she could see past the anger, deep in his eyes she saw a different side of him."They were exposed to a chemical agent" she said "I...I don't know how they became exposed to it."

then he noticed he was hurting her, he scoffed as he released her from his grip. "Sorry, i guess your as clueless as i am"

"Its okay" she said softly.

"well, my codec got vaporized...so we're on our own." he said, removing his wireless earphone from his left ear and tossing it onto the floor

she looked away from him and then looked back at him "But they'll come looking for you" she asked. "won't they?"

Lloyd shook his head. "No...This was supposed to be a solo operation, so if they don,t receive a transmission in the next hour...then i,ll be presumed dead by HQ, and the mission will be abandoned."

The last reminiscence of hope disappeared from her face at his answer. she grew quiet.

"Colette" she looked at him, once again her eyes meeting his. "We can't let these things reach the surface, if they do..."

She continued to look at him quietly.

"...Then nothing will stop these things from wreaking havoc on the surface. Colette, we have to wipe them out....or die trying" he pulled out his handgun. "I,ll show you how to use this" he got behind her and placed the magnum in her hands. " just aim at your target and pull the trigger and you'll get the feel of it. okay?"

"Okay" she nodded.

"And to reload press the button beside your thumb, wait for the clip to fall out, insert another one and your ready to go..."

"Okay" she said silently. he let her hands fall to her sides, he could clearly see the look of dread and despair in her facial features. deep inside he felt it too.

He had been a special-ops agent for ten years...and he knew this just might possibly be....

_his last mission. or even worse,_

_his last of everything...._


	4. Research Quarters

Chapter 3:

Research Quarters

Along with Colette, Lloyd continued his search, as they passed trough a set of doors they came to the research quarters. The room they were in was quite big, there where tables on each side of the room riddled with test tubes, beakers and other research equipment. There was a doorway leading to a corridor on the northeast side of the room.

"We'll rest here" Lloyd said as he deemed the area safe. He then grabbed a chair next to a table and prompted Colette to sit on it, grabbing a chair for himself as well.

"Colette," Lloyd spoke as he sat down, setting his rifle on the table. Colette sat down as well. "Tell me everything you can about this lab and whatever you may know about these 'Novistadors'?"

"I do'nt know anything about them except they dislike bright light,"

"That answers why that one I killed back there was alone."

"The lab has one sector for the researchers and four sectors for research. making five sectors in total, each sector of the four carries out a specific type of research. Theres this sector, the main research. Then theres bio-research, the cultivation sector and finally the specimen chambers." Colette explained. "Lloyd?"

"what is it?"

"Raven's not your real name is it?"

"Does it matter?"

"I just want to know if we both make it out alive"

Lloyd paused for a moment. "Lloyd Irving"

"Lloyd....I like that name."

Just as she finished the lights began to flicker and continued to do so in two minute intervals.

"Whats going on?" Lloyd said out loud.

"Its the generator..."She answered

"Huh?" Lloyd did,nt quite catch her sentence.

"The auxilary power generator.... its running low on main generator was damaged during the outbreak...." a grim expression crossed her face. "Its only a matter of time before the generator gives out."

"Leaving us in the darkness..." said a voice.

With lightning reflexes Lloyd snatched his gun off the table and aimed it at the doorway to the next corridor. The owner of the voice was a man who was just as tall as Lloyd with short black hair and wore steel rimmed glasses, he wore a labcoat and the butt of a 9mm was peeking out of his left coat pocket.

"Ian!" Colette exclaimed as she stood up out of of her chair.

"Ian?" Lloyd asked lowering his gun.

"Thats my name." Ian said as he approached the two. "Good to see your still alive Colette."

"Same here" She said as Lloyd stood up to greet him.

"Lloyd Irving, Special Ops agent" Lloyd held out his hand.

"Ian Cambridge" Ian shook his hand. " So Lloyd, what's our next move?"

"I'd say our best course of action would be to somehow repair the main generator before we are left in the dark."

"Sounds like a plan" Ian said as he looked at Lloyd then Colette. "Shall we be off?"

"Right" Lloyd said as the took the next hallway.

_They had to act fast...cause in The Hive, the shadows are killer._


	5. Regenerator

Chapter 4:

Regenerator

_Deep within the lab layed 'Mother' hidden in the darkness, over a billion or more turquoise glowing orbs surrounding several large ones. Buzzing noises drowned out the silence and supernatural noises replacing it. The faint sounds of a cross between sniveling and gasping for air could barely be heard._

_Suddenly a massive bellow cut through the air shaking the entire room as if a million tonnes of dynamite all went off at the exact same time. As the noise died down the sniveling became fainter...._

"Did you guys hear that?" Lloyd's finely tuned ears heard something. He stopped in the middle of the hallway and quietly listened.

"What did you hear?" Colette asked as her and Ian paused as well.

"Must be my mind playing tricks" Lloyd shook it off and continued down the hallway, Ian and Colette tagging along. "How much farther to the generators?"

"We still got a little ways to go..." Ian answered. "We have to make our way past the Cultivation Sector"

They past the door at the end of the hall, bringing them into a long room with glass tubes lined up along the walls of the room.

"Where are we now Ian?" Lloyd said as he glanced at one of the tubes, it had a beetle floating inside it.

"One of the specimen containment areas." Ian replied.

Without warning Lloyd's view shifted to the doorway on the other end of the room.

Colette took a step forward to Lloyd. "What is it Lloyd?"

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, tightening the grip on his rifle. "Somethings coming."

His senses were correct, a sound similar to sniveling began to fill the air, getting closer and closer.

"What is that noise?" Colette pondered out loud.

"_It cant be...." Ian said under his breath, hoping his guess was wrong._

As it got closer it only confirmed his guess.

"Hide...."Ian muttered just loud enough to hear.

"What?" Colette asked him.

It appeared before the doorway, sniveling as if gasping for air, a being as tall as an adult human and almost the same as one, but skin tinted gray and no facial features except for a mouth containing serrated teeth. Its upper body constantly twitching as it stood there.

"What the hell is that?!" Lloyd said as he aimed his gun at it. It began to walk towards the group.

"You can't harm it with conventional weapons Lloyd!" Ian warned him.

"Watch me..."Lloyd said confidently as he shoulder aimed his rifle for a precise shot. He pulled the trigger.

The discharged rounds struck it multiple times in the head as it continued its approach until it stumbled back a few steps as the right side of its head disintegrated. Lloyd grinned as he released the trigger. But was quickly wiped off its face as he watched tiny tentacles appear in the hole on its head and whipped wildly around the hole.

Lloyd pulled the trigger....the gun clicked a few times.

"Shit!" Lloyd quickly removed the rifles clip, slapped another one in and pulled the bolt on the top of the gun. By this time the creatures head had somehow regenerated itself.

_Ian was right, it couldn't be harmed with conventional weapons._

Now fully regenerated, the creature continued its approach towards the group.

"Colette we have to run!" Ian exclaimed as he grabbed her wrist.

"No! I'm not leaving Lloyd behind!" Colette wrenched her hand free.

The creature was now within several feet of Lloyd. Lloyd then got an idea, he reached for his belt and pulled a grenade from it and bit the pin with his teeth.

"Eat this you sunnava bitch!" He tore the pin out and hurled the grenade which landed by the creature's feet. Seconds later the grenade exploded, the creature remained intact as its body arched until it was shaped like a 'U' and shot back up upright.

"What!?" Lloyd said shocked as the creature took a few steps more and suddenly stretched its right arm to grab him, just in time Lloyd twisted his body and the elongated arm shot two feet past him then contracted back to the creature and returned to its normal length. Lloyd knew there was no point shooting at it as it would be a waste of ammo.

"How are you supposed to kill this damn thing!?" Lloyd said as he lured it away from Ian and Colette.

"I Don,t know..."Ian shuddered, then something flashed in his head

_FLASHBACK_

_A group of scientists including Ian stood around a stasis tank Containing the same creature that Lloyd was trying to desperately eliminate. A man with rose colored hair and sleek black-rimmed glasses spoke._

"_So this is the future of bio-weapons Ian?" The man asked._

"_Yes, this is the model R-102 'Regenerator' , our latest breakthrough in bio-weapon technology"_

"_Tell me more about this 'Regenerator'"_

"_Well, it's capable of regeneration of lost tissue and organs within moments of losing them, and its arms can stretch several feet." Ian proclaimed._

"_And its method of combat?"_

"_A mouth full of serrated teeth."_

"_Any weaknesses?"_

"_It only has one weakness, there is a parasite in the center of its face where the nose would be on a human that can only be killed with a __**high-penetration weapon**__"Ian stated."once the parasite is killed the regenerator is killed as well"_

_An evil grin crossed the mans face. "Superb"_

_END FLASHBACK_

"Colette give me your magnum!" Ian demanded.

"O...okay"Colette pulled it out of her pocket and passed it to Ian

"Lloyd!"Ian called to him.

"Yeah?" Lloyd said trying to keep his distance from the regenerator. Barely dodging its stretching arms.

"Get far away from it!" Ian aimed the gun at the center of its head.

When Lloyd was far enough away from the creature Colette covered her ears as Ian fired the magnum, the round shot trough its skull with ease as the creatures upper body began greatly expanding and contracting. The creature stumbled a few steps and let out a moan as its entire upper body exploded, the remainder fell to the floor.

Lloyd looked at Ian flabbergasted at what just took place.

Reading the look on Lloyd face Ian replied "I killed the parasite in its head, when the parasite dies its causes the reverse of regeneration. In other words, its destruction."

Lloyd nodded in understanding. "But how did you know that?"

"I am, or _was _the head of the research team" Ian said correcting himself as he returned the magnum to Colette.

"Okay." Lloyd said, the flickering lights then reminded him. "We have to get to the generator, so lets get a move on."

"Right" Ian said as they began on their way to the cultivation sector.


	6. The Generator

Authors note: I NEED REVIEWS!! I only got a small handful of people reading my story and I need more! So please those who enjoy my stories please review and spread the word of my work! I appreciate your help and will return it with even better stories and chapters! ^^

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Chapter 5:

The Generator

_In the Cultivation sector a woman cautiously comes out of hiding. Her raven black bangs swishing along with her movements and her blue eyes wandered the surroundings. As she took a step something fell over and she snapped her head to the left to see a empty vial rolling back and forth on the floor. She took a deep breath and nervously walked towards the doorway ahead of her she heard something and swung around and emitted a shriek as a small creature collided with her face and latched onto it with unnatural strength and coiled its long tail around her neck and began to cut off her oxygen supply. Her struggling proved futile as she slowly slipped into a temporary induced coma by the creature._

"How much farther Ian?" Lloyd questioned, noticing something was on Colette's mind.

"It should be past this door..."Ian replied.

And it was, behind the door was the cultivation sector, Lloyd saw a female scientist collapsed on the floor.

"Is she dead?" Colette pondered out loud as Lloyd approached the woman and cautiously poked her with the barrel of his rifle. She immediately awoke screaming obscenities while her ocean blue eyes snapped open to a pair of deep brown orbs piercing her soul. She calmed down quickly.

"W..who are you?" She asked still frightened by his glare.

"Lloyd Irving, special ops agent." Lloyd replied offering a hand.

She carefully accepted it and he pulled her to her feet. "Sheena....Sheena Fujibayashi."

"Are you all right?" Ian asked.

She snickered. "if being face-raped by a monster is your definition for all right, then yes...."

"Your not injured though are you?" Lloyd asked.

She shook her head.

"alright then come with us"

"OK."

With that they carried on towards the generators. Two doors later the stood in the room that held the two massive generators.

"Were finally here..." Lloyd said as he turned to Ian. "what now?"

"See those two switches on each side of the generator?"

"Yeah."

"two of us have to pull the switches at the exact same time to restart the main generator"

"OK" Lloyd turned to Colette. "Colette you take the left and I,ll take the right."

"OK" she nodded as she stood beside the left switch while Lloyd took the right.

"On the count of three pull the switch OK?

She nodded.

"one....."

"two....."

"three!"

the both pulled the switches and the lights went out. Moments later they came back on.

"Alright!" Ian cheered.

"We did it!" Colette exclaimed as she caught Lloyd off guard with a hug.

"Yeah..." was all Lloyd said as he embraced her as well

"Sheena?" Ian's worried voice brought everyone's attention to Sheena, whose hands were covered in blood.

"You okay?" Colette broke her embrace with Lloyd and took a few steps towards Sheena

Lloyd noticed what seemed to be a large welt on the side of her neck, it was pulsating.

"Get away from her Colette! Somethings not right."

Colette did'nt hear his warning as she took another step over to her. "Whats wrong Sheena?" she asked again.

Sheena looked at her and spoke but no words came out as her face suddenly became twisted with pain.

"Colette!" Lloyd warned again.

Suddenly Sheena's neck tore open and a small creature poked its bloody head out as her lifeless body collapsed to the floor. Colette screamed and fell backwards onto the floor as Lloyd aimed his rifle at the creature that wiggled its way out of the neck and onto the floor.

"What the hell?!" Lloyd was about to kill the creature when it quickly scurried pass the door and out of sight.

Colette was still on the floor, in shock from what just took place, looking at Sheena's body and the blood gushing onto the floor from the hole in her neck, creating a pool of red around her.

"What the hell was that Ian?!" Lloyd demanded an answer.

"I....I,m not sure myself..." Ian stuttered, this proved he was telling the truth.

Lloyd regained his composure and walked over to Colette, who still continued to stare at the body. He knelt down and shook her shoulder. She turned her head to look at him, tears in her eyes,

"Its OK Colette..."he put his cheek to hers as the tears ran down her face and held her in a embrace. He put his mouth to her ear and spoke. "I wont let them hurt you." these words gave her comfort, but all she could do was embrace him and cry onto his shirt.

He rubbed her back softly, doing his best to comfort her. He vowed he would protect her from this nightmare, he would be her savior....

because he loved her......


	7. Intentions Revealed

Author,s notes: Thank you cheesecake for your review and the throatburster scene was supposed to be freaky :P

Chapter 6: Intentions Revealed

Lloyd shirt was soaked with Colette's tears as she continued to cry into his shirt, Lloyd couldn't imagine what she did to deserve this hellish nightmare. Frankly, he could'nt imagine what anyone did to deserve this. All he could do was comfort her....and protect her, even if it meant his death.

"L...Lloyd" Colette spoke for the first time in twenty minutes of tears and sobbing.

"Yes Colette?" he spoke softly running his hand through her beautiful golden hair.

"I...I,m sorry.....for being so weak..."

"Thats not true, your strong Colette"

She looked into his brown eyes, they were different, they were'nt cold and calculating as usual, but instead filled with passion previously unseen by her, or anyone for that fact. His voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Colette, its too dangerous to stay here any longer." Lloyd said wiping the last of her tears away.

"O...OK" she stood up with him.

Lloyd turned to Ian who seemed to be in a train of thought while examining Sheena's dead body. "Ian"

"Hm?" he looked at Lloyd.

"Take Colette with you and make a run for the tram outside the hive entrance."

"I,m n...not leaving you Lloyd" She shook her head.

"No Colette. Go with Ian, its too dangerous to continue on with me."

She shook her head once more.

Lloyd sighed, gathering his thoughts. "Ian, we'll meet you at the tram."

"OK" Ian turned to take off. "Lloyd."

"Yeah Ian?"

"Good luck" Ian said as he headed off to the entrance.

Lloyd smiled and turned to Colette. "Ready?"

"Yes" She took her magnum out of her pocket.

They left the generator room and headed down the hallway. They passed through a door and were enveloped in darkness the door shut behind then leaving them in complete darkness.

"Lloyd I cant see you!" Colette franticly felt around her with her free hand for Lloyd, then her hand touched something slimy.

"Lloyd?"

A low hiss was her reply.

Ian ran as fast as he could, to the entrance. He could only hope they would be safe, but then he heard a faint scream deeper in the hive

"Shit!" Without a second thought he ran as fast as his legs could take him.

"Colette!" Lloyd called out. Somehow he lost track of her on the way through the dark room. He was now back in a lit room. He continued on thinking she might have gotten ahead of him. Lloyd heard something down the hallway behind the corner and readied his rifle. A man stepped around the corner. His rose colored hair stood out against the surroundings and he wore black rimmed glasses.

"Who are you!?" Lloyd asked.

"Who do you think you are?" The man grinned as he whipped out a Chinese Type 17 handgun out of his coat and pointed it at Lloyd with one hand. "Coming here and killing my underlings."

Lloyd gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the trigger. "Answer my question!"

The man grinned a sinister smile. "I,m Zelos Wilder, creator of the Novistador virus"

Colette stood there frozen in fear at the dead Novistador that laid on the floor. If it wasn't for its glowing eyes she would be dead right now. She then could hear a faint voice ahead of her. It sounded like Lloyd. She followed the voice through the darkness.

"So your the one behind all this bloodshed!"

"Indeed." he chuckled "The military powers would pay millions for my creations for use in their bio-weapon divisions!"

"You monster!" Lloyd face became twisted with fury "You murdered innocent bystanders for this!? For money!?"

"hahaha" he laughed as if he enjoyed it. "You make it sound like a mortal sin. This is evolution at its finest. Only the strong survive in this world!"

"Lloyd!" Colette said as she came to his side. "Zelos...Whats going on?"

Zelos chuckled. "Colette, still as clueless as ever!"

"He,s the one who started this whole mess" Lloyd said keeping his attention on Zelos.

"Zelos....why?"

"He did it for the money...." Lloyd answered for him.

"And I would do it again!"

"You....you monster!" she aimed her gun but Zelos reacted and shot it out of her hand and it landed on the floor behind her.

Lloyd took advantage and open fire on Zelos. Zelos was pushed into the wall behind him as he was showered with rounds and spurts of blood splattered on the wall around him. Lloyd continued to fire until all 120 rounds in the clip were discharged. Zelos' bullet-ridden body slid down the wall into a sitting position. The wall covered with his blood. Lloyd lowered his rifle and let it drop to the floor as it was no use to him now.

Lloyd turned to Colette. "Colette, are you all right?"

"Y..yeah" she turned and picked her gun up off the floor.

Just then a deep voice cut through the air.

"Dr. Zelos? Dr. Zelos report in."

The voice was coming from Zelos' lifeless body. Lloyd walked over and checked his pocket and pulled out a communicator.

"What the!?" Lloyd muttered.

"Dr. Zelos respond!"

Lloyd pushed the talk button and spoke. "This is Zelos."

"Whats the status?"

"Everything going according to plan."

"Something wrong? You sound different."

Lloyd thought quickly of something to say. "...The atmosphere here is a killer on the allergies."

"Continue on with project Helix" The communicator went silent.

"Project Helix?" Lloyd turned to Colette. "You know anything about this?"

She shook her head.

"Lets get out of here, theres nothing more we can do here."

"Yeah"

they began on their way to the entrance.


	8. Escape

The Final Chapter

Escape

Lloyd stopped in the middle of the hallway that led to the cultivation sector.

"something wrong Lloyd?" Colette asked

"Now I got a communicator I can contact Headquarters." he replied as he pulled the said object out of his pocket and fiddled with the tuner. He stopped as it began to pick up a signal.

"R.....aven! Please r...espond!" Lloyd tuned it a little more and the signal cleared up. He pushed the talk button.

"Raven here...."

"Its been almost seven hours since our last transmission, we were starting to get worried." the familiar voice known as White Tiger replied.

"My codec got vaporized, so I had to find a replacement..."

"Very well, Lloyd, you are to drop everything and leave...including the survivors...."

"What!?" Colette could only hear his side of the conversation, but she could tell by the utterly shocked look on his face that he had just been told something dire.

"What the hell you mean by 'including the survivors' !?" Lloyd demanded.

"We, the national board of defense no longer have jurisdiction over this matter,"

"Then who the hell does!?"

"I cannot reveal that information"

"Dammit you think I,m just gonna ditch her just cause the damn higher-ups say so? I wont have it!"

"you have no choice in the matter nor do we, this is a matter of national security.."

"yeah well they can shove it up their ass for all I care, I quit!"Lloyd huffed the communicator at the wall and it shattered on impact.

"Lloyd..."

"don't even think about it Colette, I'm not doing it."

before she could say a word a deafening alarm sounded. An automated voice followed.

"Atmospheric condition critical, override code 116, three minutes till full system lock down"

"Aw shit" Lloyd cursed.

"w...ahhhhhh!" she yelped as he grabbed her and dashed down the hall dragging her with him.

Xoxoxoxoxox

"they should have been here by now...." Ian paced back and forth in front of the tram. The lights returned to the area when the generator was rebooted.

"I hope they're all right"

xoxoxoxoxox

'Two minutes till lock down'

the voice was ignored as the duo passed through door after door in a mad dash to the entrance.

They where about to take a turn leading to the crew quarters when a Novistador came out of nowhere and tackled Lloyd, knocking Colette a small distance away from them as it delivered a kick that sent him into the wall behind him. He threw his arms in a criss-cross formation in front of himself stopping it a pinky-length from tearing a hole in his neck, pinning him to the wall in the process.

"Lloyd!" Colette cried, still sitting on the floor. She hastily pulled the magnum out of her coat and raised it at the creature and pulled the trigger....nothing happened.

"the gun's jammed!" she began to panic.

"Get....out of here Colette." Lloyd grunted struggling to keep the creature from ripping his throat out.

"No, I,m not..."

"Colette....it's my duty to get you out of here alive, even....at my own expense" he said as the creature hissed in frustration.

"No." she took the magnum and threw it, it struck the creature in the back of the head. The gun dropped to the floor beside Lloyd as the creature turned its attention to Colette.

'One minute till lock down.'

Colette flinched as the creature kicked off of Lloyd towards her, she closed her eyes, hoping for a quick death.

"COLETTE!!!"

His adrenaline kicked into full throttle and time seemed to come to a complete halt as swiped the jammed magnum off the floor and pulled the slide back full force, ejecting the jammed bullet and pulled the trigger. Colette winced as the round penetrated the creatures skull while it was in mid-air and zoomed by her ear. Time returned to its normal pace as the dead Novistador hit the floor and skidded to a halt at her feet. She opened her eye to see Lloyd still aiming the gun at the said creature breathing heavily.

'Thirty seconds till lock down'

"You all right?" was all Lloyd said.

Before he got an answer Lloyd was caught off guard as he felt her tender lips touch his.

'Twenty seconds till lock down'

"Lloyd!" Colette broke the kiss quickly and they turned to see Ian.

"Right, lets get out of here" the three quickly left the lab and the large blast doors locked shut.

"Its over..." was all Lloyd said as the tram took them towards freedom.

**But it was just the beginning of the end.**

**The End**


End file.
